It was not until her arms were raised that a solemn look of relief hinted at this being more than a win merely for herself.

Four years into the invasion of her home country, Kostyuk had learnt to live with a constant stream of bad news, but an image of a towering building ablaze adjacent to her family’s home in Kyiv following an overnight missile strike made this a tougher day than usual.

“I had to live through it and deal with it and go out and play,” Kostyuk said following her 6-2 6-3 win. “I didn't know what to expect from myself. I didn't know how my focus is going to be, how I'm going to be able to, you know, control my emotions or my thoughts.

“There were obviously times in the match when I would go back to thinking about it, because most of the morning I felt sick just for my thought that seeing if it was 100 metres closer, I probably wouldn't have a mom and a sister today.

“It was really difficult to just process it so quick and also go out and play… Yeah, it's tough, but I'm very proud of myself today, of how we all handled it, and, you know, happy to be in the second round and that everyone is alive.”

Channelling the heavy news, Kostyuk was in control throughout in her first meeting with the left-handed 23-year-old. While she failed to serve out both sets first time round, it was nonetheless a composed outing, delivered on the back of 20 winners, including 12 off her forehand.

No sooner had Kostyuk started this season with a run to the Brisbane final following three straight top-10 wins over Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva and Jessica Pegula, than injuries returned.

It wasn’t until the shift to clay that she really found another gear.

Following back-to-back titles in Rouen and her first WTA 1000 trophy in Madrid earlier this month, she remains the only player unbeaten on the surface this season.

In her first event since the biggest title breakthrough of her career in the Spanish capital, the in-form world No.15 passed the opening hurdle for just the second time in five years.

American Katie Volynets is next after her victory over French wildcard Clara Burel, but for now it is time to decompress and not for the last time, rally around family and friends back home.

Despite the difficult news, it never crossed the 15th seed’s mind to withdraw.

“I think it's definitely exhausting, especially when it repeatedly is happening over the night, nobody is sleeping well,” she said. “People are just more irritated and scared, but generally, everyone is really angry, and everyone, you know, just wants to keep going.

“Everyone is trying to help whoever they need to help, and that's it. People are very resilient, and this is something to learn from them, for sure.”